The Message
by Idojgrrl
Summary: This is a new story with characters continued from previous submissions. It's sort of a starter story for the next chapter of Caoimhe Onior's life. I may take it somewhere, not sure, but it just sort of came about and I hoped to share for suggestions and input. If you like this, please read my other postings and let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is always welcome.
1. Chapter 1

On the hill overlooking the small road leading up to Splinter Tree outpost, Caoimhe sat and watched the riders come in. Jeckyl paced around her and would occasionally run off into the woods chasing a rabbit or sniffing out another small animal, but he could tell Caoimhe was on edge and kept nudging into her to get her attention. She scratched behind his ears absentmindedly and continued to stare off into the distance. Every now and then, she would pull from inside her vest a crumpled letter, read it, reread it, fold it and then put it away. The guards would look at her, she would wave and smile, they would shake their heads and go about their business, wondering what the Blood Elf was wasting her time on. Finally, a wind rider flew overhead, a smallish form on its back. The silhouette of an elf, not an orc. Caoimhe stood and watched it land. Her stomach turned and for a moment she thought, perhaps the meeting was a bad idea. She watched the rider jump off and look around. Caoimhe swallowed hard. She was torn between the urge to run to meet Pyewacket, tackle her, hug her, buy her a drink, tell her how much she had missed her, everything she had done in the year they had been apart and the urge to run away. She looked at the letter one last time. 'I need to speak with you' the letter said. Her stomach turned again.

"Caoi!" Pye squeaked. She had caught sight of her and ran full tilt from the landing hill to the spot where Caoimhe stood. At first, Caoimhe thought Pye would tackle her, but she stopped a few feet away, a nervous, but happy expression on her face.

"Caoimhe!" she exclaimed throwing her arms open. Caoimhe exhaled heavily and with great relief, and stepped into her best friend's embrace.

"I...I missed you," was all she managed to say.

"I missed you too," Pye said.

They hugged for a long time before Pye pulled away and, holding both of Coimhe's hands in her own, looked her up and down.

"You look well," she smiled.

Caoimhe looked down at her travel stained clothes, "You're too kind." She looked at Pye. She wore tidy robes. Her hair was short and fell gracefully over one side of her face. She looked much happier and healthier than she had when she left Booty Bay. Caoimhe dropped her eyes to the grass.  
"You look...very well...as well," she said.

Pye laughed a little and let go of her hands to smooth her hair. "No," she said, "I'm all wind blown."

Caoimhe looked up at her, "You look...you look really...wonderful." She caught a glimpse of a pendant around her neck. Something akin to the banners that hung from the temple walls in Silvermoon. "That's...that's different."

Pye put her hand to the charm. "Oh, yes," she said. "Caoimhe," she said a little nervously, "can we go someplace to talk?"

Caoimhe felt her face grow pale. "Uhm...yes," she said, "We can sit..." she looked around, "we can go outside the gate and sit."

Pye nodded and smiled and let Caoimhe find a spot under a tree away from the guards and the foot traffic.

Jeckyl settled next to Caoimhe as she sat and after a brief hesitation, Pye sat across from her.

For several moments, they sat in silence.

"You...you came from Thunder Bluff?" Coimhe finally asked.

"Yes," Pye said, happy to have a topic to start with.

"And everyone there is well?"

"Everyone is well," she said. She looked at the massive trees and down the hill beyond the road. "It's very purple here."

Caoimhe looked up into the trees, "Its the foliage, it casts very oddly colored shadows."

Pye followed her gaze and then looked back at her. "Not like Eversong, is it."

"No," Caoimhe said shortly.

"Do you miss Eversong?"

"I rather miss Durotar."

"Really?" Pye said, honestly surprised, "Its so dusty and dry."

"Yes but its so...open," Caoimhe said, forgetting her nervousness for a moment, "The grass smells so good and you can just run forever out there. And the hills that pop out of nowhere? You can see forever." She smiled at Pye, then blushed and looked back at her lap. "Have you...have you been there this whole time? In Mulgore, I mean?"

Pye looked surprised. "Oh, oh no," she said. "I went back to," she took a deep breath. "I felt I needed a change in my life."

Caoimhe peered intently at the ground. "You were not happy in Booty Bay." Caoimhe remembered Pye staring out at the ocean, nearly in tears. "I know."

"I wasn't happy with a lot of things," she said. "I was not happy with the path I had chosen. I went home to learn a new path."

"But you were a brilliant mage," Caoimhe said, looking up at her.

Pye blushed a little. "Thank you, but I was a mage because I, well I thought that's what I should be."

It was Caoimhe's turn to look surprised. "Because you should? Surely Cace didn't expect..."

"No," Pye laughed, "Cace didn't expect me to anything that I didn't want to." She ran her fingers through the grass. "My mother was a mage. I thought," she shrugged. "I thought I should follow in her footsteps."

"I understand," Caoimhe mumbled.

"But I came to realize it wasn't what I should be doing," she said. "I felt called to something else."

"Called?"

Pye nodded, she put her hand up to the necklace she wore. "I became a priest."

Caoimhe stiffened. "You...you're a ….a priest?"

Pye nodded and Caoimhe swallowed. She dropped her eyes to the grass and smiled. "That's...that's wonderful, Pye," she said, as upbeat as she could manage. She rubbed her sweaty palms on her pant legs. "I'm sure you make a wonderful priest."

Pye smiled, "It makes sense to me, Caoi," she said excitedly. "I can feel the difference. There is peace and balance and I am helping people."

Caoimhe just kept nodding at the ground. Pye had hoped her news would be better received. "I am told I'm very good at it. That is comes very naturally to me," she went on. Her companion continued to nod. "There is the Light and the Shadow and it makes so much sense to me."

Still there was silence.

"Caoi, I'm sorry," she said.

Caoimhe bit her lip. "It's alright, Pye."

"I was afraid," Pye admitted.

Caoimhe looked at her. "You were afraid? of what?"

Pyewacket sighed. "People were trying to hurt you...us...me," she amended quickly.

"You mean Janel," Caoimhe said quietly. She nodded. "She was just using me to hurt my Father and," she looked at Caoimhe with an expression of deep apology. "I didn't want anyone to come to harm because of me."

Caoimhe bit her lip, but she couldn't bring her eyes to meet her friend's.

"Please, Caoi," Pye said, reaching out and laying her hand on Caoimhe's arm. "I just wanted her to leave you alone."

"Well she did," Caoimhe snapped suddenly, "and so did you, and so did everyone else."

Pye withdrew her hand, the sudden realization hitting her very hard. "I'm sorry."

Caoimhe didn't answer right away. "I missed you so much," she finally said.

"Caoi, I'm so sorry."

"When you left no one...," Caoimhe spoke into the ground, "everyone left. I would get equipment, supplies sometimes, but...it was just me...and Jeckyl, and then I found Code, but...I missed you. I wouldn't have let anyone hurt you," she realized that was unrealistic, "I mean I would have stood up for you."

Guilt washed over Pye's face, "I know. Please forgive me."

Remorse filled Caoimhe suddenly. "No," she said, quietly, "I'm sorry. You didn't have to stay for me. I'm used to traveling alone." She tried to smile, "besides it was wet...and you didn't like it there."

Pye sighed, she stood and paced.

Caoimhe sat, scratching Jeckyl's back and wishing she could be anywhere else, but not wanting to be anywhere but with Pye. "I was hurt," she finally said without looking up.

Pye stopped pacing and looked at her. "What?" she asked.

"I was sure I had done something wrong," Caoimhe continued quietly, "that you left because of me."

Pye sat back down, "Oh no," she said, "I left for me. I wanted to be something more, better. I wanted to be able to protect the people I love. I can do that now."

"That's wonderful Pye," Caoimhe said without much passion.

Pye took a deep breath, "There is another reason I came back."

Caoimhe swallowed. "Oh?"

"I have met someone," she said, unable to hide her smile.

Caoimhe felt her stomach drop out and a sudden chill fell over her whole body. She felt her heart break. "You...met someone?" she asked.

"Yes."

"And you came all the way here to tell me?"

"You are my best friend," she said as if that were the most natural thing in the world. "You are the first person I wanted tell."

Caoimhe nodded at the grass. "You met him in Thunder Bluff?"

"No," she said, "I had to go out and practice my craft, I haven't been in Thunder Bluff the whole year, but no, it has been a while."

Caoimhe bit her lip and nodded.

"She's very daring, very brave, has a wonderful smile," Pye said, her joy evident in her voice.

"She?" Caoimhe asked, surprised.

Pye nodded. Caoimhe felt a stabbing in her chest.

"She's a brilliant scout, comes from a big family," Pye went on.

Caoimhe half laughed, half grunted. "Sounds like me," she said.

Pye didn't say anything. Caoimhe looked up at her, a smile had spread across Pye's face. Shocked, Caoimhe sat up straighter, "She sounds like me."

Pye nodded.

"Me?" she gasped. She stood and took a step backward. "Me, the someone you met is me?"

"Yes," Pye laughed. Caoimhe paced back and forth and then knelt back down on the grass. Agitated, Jeckyl paced next to her and whined. "Me? You...love...me?"

Pye nodded. "But you can't," Caoimhe blurted out.

Pyewacket's expression changed. Her smile faded and her shoulders slumped slightly. "I understand," she said, sadly, but calmly. "I was prepared for that. You don't feel the same, you don't ..."

"No!" Caoimhe heard herself exclaim, "No, wait, that's not..." She rubbed her face in her hands and pulled on her hair in frustration. "Pye I...I...you, I missed you."

"I missed you too, Caoi," she said patiently.

"From the moment we met," Caoimhe tried to explain herself. "I just wanted..." she looked at Pye and took a deep breath, "I was so happy...with you. You were my first real friend."

"That can't be true," Pye said.

"I have a lot of family and we were very close for a long time, but you and Song were my first...real...friends."

"So you feel the same?" Pye asked.

Caoimhe rubbed her hands on her pants and bit her lip. "I don't...know? I know I missed you and I was miserable and lonely without you," she stood and started pacing again. The sinking horrible feeling in her stomach had been replaced with a new, equally unpleasant nausea. A burning feeling that was starting to take over. She sank back to the ground and stared at Pye. "You have such beautiful eyes," she said. It came out of her mouth like she had been waiting to say it for years. "I thought about you every day," she said. Guilt washed over her face. "You can't love me, Pye. You just...can't."

"Of course I can," Pye said very calmly.

Caoimhe rolled her head back and stared at the tree. "No," she said. "I'm not...you just...it can't be me."

Putting her hand on Caoimhe's knee, Pye said quietly, "I've given this a lot of thought. Ever since I left Booty Bay. At first I thought it would go away, but it didn't. And in the end, I knew what I felt was real."

"You've been thinking about this for over a year?" Caoimhe looked at her, an odd mix of hurt and disbelief on her face, "and you are just coming to tell me...now?"

Pye sighed, "I'm sorry. I should have written. I was just too scared."

Caoimhe pulled her knees up and set her forehead on her hands. She was quiet for a very long time. Quietly, Pye could tell, she had started to cry.

"Caoi?" she asked, leaning forward. "Caoi, I'm sorry. I'll go, I'm so sorry."

"No, please don't go," Caoimhe sobbed. "Please don't leave. You just can't love me, that's all." She mopped her eyes with her sleeve and looked at Pye. "I wouldn't know what to call it, but I know you are the only person I have been happy with since...since I left home." She took a deep, shuddering breath, "But you are a priest now, Pye. and I'm just...I'm just...me."

Pye blinked at her, "What are you talking about?"

"Your beautiful and smart and strong and...and look at you! You are perfect, you deserve...you deserve someone...perfect," she stared at Pye.

They looked at each other for a long time. "Caoimhe," Pye said quietly, "I'm not perfect."

"I think you're perfect," Caoimhe said.

Pye reached to take Caoimhe's hand. She was certain of this, and she wanted Caoimhe to feel certain too.

"I promise I will not leave again," she said, a reassuring smile on her face.

Caoimhe let her hand rest in Pye's. "Don't promise that," she said. "No one should promise that."

"But I mean it," Pye started, dismayed that Caoimhe didn't believe her somehow.

"I know you do," Caoimhe said weakly. "But people can't...you shouldn't promise..." she gave up on the explanation. Pye's hand felt so warm, she squeezed it without thinking and Pye smiled. Suddenly self conscious, Caoimhe pulled her hands back and wiped them on her thighs. Another thought occurred to Caoimhe, "Have you," she looked at Pye without raising her head, "have you told your father?"

Pye's face turned red. She didn't respond right away and Caoimhe had her answer. "I sent him a letter," she said quietly.

Caoimhe sighed. "So...so he...you have his," she couldn't quite call it a blessing yet, "approval?"

"I have not received a response," Pye admitted.

Caoimhe's face turned pale. "Cace thinks very highly of you, Caoimhe," she said reassuringly, "I am sure he will understand."

Caoimhe wasn't so certain, but she nodded anyway.

Pye reached out and again took Caoimhe's hand between her own. "How long are you at the outpost?" she asked.

Caoimhe looked at Pye's slender fingers, delicate rings on each. "Only tonight," she said, comparing Pye's hands to her own. She couldn't tell if her own skin was darker because of her time in the sun or the lair of dirt. "They allowed me to be delayed only because...because I told them you needed to meet me here. I have...I have to return to Orgrimmar and then to Negrand."

Pye nodded, "I will come with you."

"Oh, no, Pye," Caoimhe said, "That is not...that is not necessary. I am sure there is far more to do...I am sure you have far more to do."

"No one in my order will argue if I tell them I wish to aid the campaigns in Negrand," she smiled.

Caoimhe's face fell into a worried frown. "Pye, I am..." she wasn't sure how much of her work she was free to discuss, "I think much of what I need to do, I need to do alone."

Pye was undeterred. "Then I will stay in Shatt'rath," she said. "Then I will be close to you."

Caoimhe shook her head.

"Caoimhe," Pye insisted.

"This is...this is very," she looked into Pye's eyes. She sighed. She had such deep and reassuring eyes, "This is very...new for me. Please," her voice was both earnest and guilt ridden, "please give me time."

Pye smiled, a gesture Caoimhe did not feel she deserved. "I will give you all the time you need," she said. "Will you let me come with you?"

Caoimhe sat staring at the ground in thought for a few minutes before she nodded at the grass. Pye squeaked with delight and leaned forward to hug Caoimhe. It was different this time, Caoimhe felt Pye pull her closer, and let her head rest on Pye's shoulder just a little longer. It was genuine and loving and warm and the first affectionate contact she had felt in over a year that wasn't from one of her animals. The first romantic touch she had felt...her face got hot and her ears turned red. she pulled back and stood. Pye smiled at her from her seat in the grass.

"I should...I should ready my things," she said hastily.

"Of course," Pye smiled. "May I help?"

"Oh, no," Caoimhe said, a little surprised, "I am...I am fairly self contained."

"Is there anything you need?" she asked.

"I...uhm...no," she said, "except perhaps a meal before I...before we...ride to Orgrimmar."

A beaming smile spread across Pyewacket's face when Caoimhe said 'we'. "A meal then," she agreed. "I will see to that. I will meet you at the hearth in the barrack then?"

Caoimhe nodded, a bit apprehensive. she heeled Jeckyl, bowed to Pye, and in a fog that was completely unfamiliar to her, went off to find the captain to collect her orders.


	2. Chapter 2

Splinter Tree outpost was not terribly far from Orgrimmar, but it was close enough to the alliance controlled woods and important enough to the horde's logging operations and supply tails that the outrunners patrolled it regularly. Sentries walked the near roads and riders on worgs went around a well worn perimeter to the river on the east that bordered Azshara north of Durotar. Caoimhe readied her hawkstrider, Pyewacket inquired with the guard about borrowing a worg. Skeptical at first, it took a little persuasion and mentioning of her father's name to secure the animal. Caoimhe swallowed hard. Cace's name carried weight in the outposts. She sighed. Pye rode cheerily up to her.

"Are we ready?" she asked.

Caoimhe marveled at her tone and demeanor. It was as if they had never parted company. She swung up onto the strider.

"We will ride out to the river with the next patrol. we can travel with them as far as the river, then we are on our own to go south," she said. "I will deliver my reports and then," she shrugged. "then to...to Negrand."

"When do we leave?" she asked, settling into the saddle.

"We'll wait at the watchtower," she said, peering down the hill. "It shouldn't be too long a wait, if their round went without incident."

They rode down the hill to the lashed wooden watch tower.

* * *

"Is it very pressing?" Pye asked as they rode behind the patrol.

"Pressing?" Caoimhe asked, turning her attention from the treeline to Pye.

"Your business in Orgrimmar?"

"Well," Caoimhe wasn't sure how to answer, she considered every task she was asked to undertake important. "I believe so. I mean, I don't think I should dally. Why?"

Pyewacket looked somewhat crestfallen. "I just thought we might take our time. I have never seen this part of Ashenvale."

"The cliffs are very nice," Caoimhe said, "but we will have to be carefull of spiders."

"Spiders?" Pye asked.

Caoimhe nodded, "There are giant spiders in the woods along the cliffs. They tend not to get too close to the water, though. They can't swim."

Pyewacket's eyes widened. "Giant spiders?"

Her companion looked at her and tilted her head in a half smile. 'Yes, surely you've seen the like? There are many...many different varieties. I have encountered them all over Kalimdor. And a few...a few in..." she trailed off. Pyewacket was staring at her with a peculiar smile. Caoimhe blushed, "I'm...I'm sorry. I am boring you."

"Oh, not at all," she said. "You are very knowledgeable."

"I've...I've just spent a lot of...a lot of time...out of doors," she said, fidgeting with the reigns.

Pye smiled at her overt nervousness, but didn't say anything that would have made it worse. They rode behind the patrol, Caoimhe switching her position on the road to keep an eye on the treeline, for about an hour. She felt certain they were watched as they rode, but that wasn't uncommon. even so, she said nothing to Pye. Jeckyl sniffed and growled and darted in and out of the brush. Caoimhe watched him carefully while she smiled at Pyewacket and tried not to bore her. At the bridge to Azshara, they parted with the patrol. Pyewaket looked across the bridge and across the cliffs.

"Are we crossing?" she asked.

Caoimhe looked across the river, to Azshara. Then she looked south down the east bank, a road she knew led into Durotar. It was the longer, but safer road. Her eyes drifted back across the chasm.

"Azshara borders directly with Orgrimmar," she reasoned almost to herself. "It would be faster."

Pye excitedly turned her worg onto the bridge.

"Wait!" Caoimhe cautioned suddenly. Pye looked at her, a mix of impatience and anticipation on her face.

"Yes?" She asked.

"It's...it's likely to be more dangerous," she said.

"And?" Pye asked.

Caoimhe did not have a ready answer. She blushed slightly. "And I...I should go across first," she said, dropping her gaze to avoid Pye's as she nudged her strider in front of Pye and started to ease it across the old rope bridge.

Pye grinned at her as she rode past. "Very chivalrous, hunter," she giggled.

"I am a scout," Caoimhe said quietly, "It is...it is what I do."

Pye nodded at her back as she watched her move out onto the swaying bridge.

Whatever her motivation might have been, Caoimhe was glad she had crossed the bridge first, and double glad she had done so on the hawk strider. The bird picked its path carefully, finding and avoiding breaks in the creaking structure that Caoimhe was not confident the worg, fast and sure on the plains or dusty hills, would have noted. Pye stopped giggling as soon as the first wind through the gorge caused the entire bridge to pull heavily to their left. About halfway across, Caoimhe dismounted and lightly led the strider the rest of the way. When she reached the other side, she tied her reins to a bridge post and went back to lead Pye's worg.

"You don't have to do that, I can get across just fine," Pye said, knowing that worg's were not easily led.

"I know," Caoimhe said, mostly to the worg. The willful creature snarled at her, but relented as she repeated her path across the swaying bridge. Pyewacket held her breath, and uttered a short prayer to protect Caoimhe as the heavier worg caused the bridge to creak. When they were safely on the other side, Caoimhe smiled at her.

"There," she sighed, "not so bad. They have bridges like this in Thunder Bluff, yes?"

"Yes," Pye said, "But they are better constructed."

Caoimhe looked back across the bridge and nodded her agreement. "Well," she tossed the reigns back up to Pye and started to untie her own mount, "South then. We'll stay along the cliffs until we get to the path down. We should be within sight of Orgrimmar by nightfall."

Pye was asleep in a bedroll next to the fire. Caoimhe watched the shadows dance across her face. She was perfect; calm and beautiful. Caoimhe poked at the fire, sending sparks into the sky. What had happened today? The ranger looked at the priest and frowned to herself. Pye had left Caoimhe's company over a year before. Caoimhe had returned to Booty Bay to find her gone, her only farewell was a note left with a friend. And then here she was again, confident and vibrant, with a new path in life looking...Caoimhe sighed. Looking completely perfect. The ranger had no idea what to expect from their reunion. She hadn't known Pye had taken up vows with The Order. She certainly wasn't expecting Pye to confess her love for her abandoned friend.

Caoimhe shook her head. She wasn't abandoned. Sure, she had been traveling alone since Softsong left Stranaglethorn to return to Thunder Bluff, but Caoimhe had willingly declined that invitation. And Pye had good reason to leave. Her father's enemies had made life very uncomfortable for her, and as much as Caoimhe had tried, it was clear that the young ranger had been ill equipped, however willing, to protect the then mage. Pye's most reasonable course of action, Caoimhe reasoned then and now, was to go back to her father. Caoimhe was used to being alone anyway. And she had Jeckyl. She dropped her head to her knees.

Caoimhe head started to swim with doubt. She wasn't fit company for a priest. The Order didn't want her, why would Pye? Caoimhe had always considered herself a devote of the Light, despite her difficulties with the Order, but nothing she had ever learned prepared her for how she felt now. Somewhere in the back of her head, the words of the Order floated, unwelcome and unwanted, but persistent. The Priests are the vessels of the light, and we are its servants.

Caoimhe looked back at Pye's face, her eyes wandered to the rise and fall of her chest as she slept. She sat for a moment, transfixed by the rhythmic rise and fall of her breasts.

Virtue of the Light lies within the priesthood.

Caoimhe's face flushed and she dropped her eyes back to the fire. Virtue was not on her mind when she looked at Pye. She stole another glance.

When had she started to...have feelings for Pye? Was it there all along? Had it grown in her absence? Caoimhe bit her lip in frustration. It had surely been there in her absence. She hadn't been lying when she said confessed to Pye that her thoughts always went back to her. But even if this burning in her chest, in her stomach in her...even if it was love, the Priest deserved better than her.

The Order is the protector of the Light.

Caoimhe finally lay back and stared at the stars as the clouds drifted over head. Regardless of what she might be feeling, she still had a task to complete. She could at least serve the Horde, if she could not serve the Light. Since sleep refused to come, she lay awake and stared at the glow of Orgrimmar in the distance.

* * *

Caoimhe had only met the Warchief once. And 'met' was a strong word. she had stood in silent awe next to the Sin'dori Magister while she presented the message from Silvermoon that she had delivered. Then she had presented a letter from the Undercity. It had been years. Caoimhe was slightly taller, much tanner and couldn't imagine that he would have any idea who she was. She remembered him, though. He was massive, in black armor with intense eyes. She remembered having the impression that he could squash her very easily, but also having the impression that he was more honorable than that.

This time, she stood in front of Thrall alone. He still wore the black armor, his eyes were just as intense, and she was sure he could still squash her, and she knew now that he was, indeed, more honorable than that. But he looked more worried than she remembered, and older than she would have thought. Still, Caoimhe found Thrall remarkably reassuring as a leader. He looked over the maps, letters and documents she had presented to him. Then he looked at her.

"I see you have learned to keep your feet still," he grinned a little at her as he looked back down at the second letter.

Caoimhe blinked in surprise. "Sir?"

He frowned at the second letter and called an adviser over to consult with him.

Caoimhe bit her lip, but didn't dare move until she had been properly dismissed. Or even offhandedly dismissed, as was usually the case with the orcs. Either way she did not want to be disrespectful.

After a low and intense discussion, Thrall sighed. He stomped to a table next to his seat.

"Ranger," he boomed. He motioned her to the table, where he was hastily writing. She stepped closer to the table. "You have been a stalwart servant of the Horde. Don't think it has gone unnoticed," he continued. "and I need your services as a messenger again." He looked at her, "You still do that, don't you?"

Caoimhe flushed, "I am at your service."

He nodded, blew the ink on the scroll dry, rolled it and dropped it, and one of her maps, into a hollowed tube. He sealed it and handed it to Caoimhe.

"This must be delivered, with all haste, to Cairn Bloodhoof," he said. "You are familiar with him?"

"I know where to find him, sir," she said quietly.

Thrall nodded. He threw out his chest and in a bellow that almost knocked her over yelled "For the Horde!"

Caoimhe's voice was drowned out by a dozen guards who all yelled back, "For the Horde!"

She saluted, and with her ears still ringing, turned sharply and left the hall.

Caoimhe walked through Orgrimmar proper to the Valley of Wisdom. More open and less marshal, it was where she had left Pye. The trolls had built homes there that were more to their liking, airy and light and less intimidating than the Orcish structures. Caoimhe caught sight of Pye sitting by the pond, chatting amiably with a small group of trolls. She excused herself when she saw Caoimhe and ran to meet her.

"I have arranged a portal to Shatterath," she said happily, "We can be there in no time."

Caoimhe shook her head. "I..we are going to Thunder Bluff."

At first Pyewacket looked surprised, then elated. she threw her arms around Caoimhe. "Oh thank you," she beamed.

"No..no," Caoimhe tried to explain. "this is...this is still...official."

Pye pulled back and looked at her, "Does it matter?"

"No...no, I guess not," Caoimhe smiled. "But I have to leave right away. we won't have time to wait for the zep. We'll hire windriders." Caoimhe looked down at Jeckyl, panting at her side. "This will be fun, eh boy?" she looked at Pye, "How quickly can you be ready?"

Pye smiled, "I am ready now."

Caoimhe smiled back and they headed together to the windrider landing at the center of the Valley of Strength.


End file.
